Growing Up Brady

I enjoyed this TV movie. It wasn't a great artistic endeavor, but neither was it's subject. The whole thing felt like a two hour Brady Bunch episode. It gave insight in to how the cast related and felt about the show, but focused mainly on the relationship between Barry and Maureen. Through the whole movie I wondered about two things, 1. What does Maureen McCormick think about this, and 2. Is that Eve Plumb playing Florence Henderson? (it wasn't). I liked this and thought it was a great way to spend a Sunday night.

Growing Up Brady was a fun Bio-movie about the Brady Bunch. It lifts the mystique from the lives of the cast. Especially about Robert Reed. I especially loved the scenes where Barry and Maureen were trying to shoot a brother and sister scene, and their hormones just took over. No doubt those out-takes will never appear on a TV Blunders program. My only disappointment was the choice for Davy Jones of the Monkees. This actor was poor choice. They didn't work very hard in finding a suitable person for the part. And That wig on him was horrible. Chances are when a TV movie is done about the Monkees, Maureen Mcormick will be played by an equally sad actor. My other disappointment is that this movie is not available for sale.

I have to admit that I am a sucker for "The Brady Bunch", although I was not a child of the 70's. I was born in 1982, and I became a fan the same way other people my age did: I caught up with the show on syndication. When I was 12 or 13, I would spend summers waiting in anticipation for 4:00 to roll around, which was when the show would come on TBS. I knew the show was entirely unrealistic and often times cheesy as heck. I still loved watching it, though. It remains a guilty pleasure.

That said, fans of the Brady Bunch like me will love this movie for its familiarity. I can't say the same for people who aren't fans, and who don't know Marsha from Jan, or who wonder why anyone would name a dog Tiger. It's the same as when Siskel & Ebert gave "The Brady Bunch Movie" two thumbs down: it was clear they didn't get the inside jokes of the movie.

"Growing Up Brady" is a behind the scenes expose for lack of a better word. It was a made-for-TV movie based on the book of the same name written by Barry Williams, who stars as himself (older, not younger) and narrates part of the film. As far as made-for-TV movies go, this one is pretty good. It told a great story, and did in fact make me want to know more.

I have not read the book yet, but something gives me the feeling that the book wasn't just about Williams' relationship with Maureen McCormack, who played Marsha on the show. From the beginning of the film, it is implied that Williams gets asked more about whether or not he had sex with McCormack than any other question. It's unfortunate, too, because if I ever met the guy in real life, I would have a lot of other questions for him about the show.

Interestingly enough, the movie seemed to try to make the viewers care about the relationship between Williams and McCormick. Fortunately, that wasn't the only thing the movie covered. I loved the scene where the Brady brothers (or actors playing them) went around the Paramount set playing. It was especially cool when they stole props from the "Star Trek" set (even though the original series was actually canceled by the time "The Brady Bunch" made its debut, but no matter). It really was a relief for me to see that these kids were just as mischievous in real life as I was, and not as picture perfect as the sitcom made you believe.

I also liked how the movie examined the Brady kids' relationship with Sherwood Schwartz, whose name appeared prominently in the credits but who many other Brady Bunch fans don't know too much about. I liked how the show's creator, played very well by Michael Tucker, served as more of a grandfather figure to the kids. I also liked the dichotomy of how Schwartz tried to be reasonable when cast members, particularly Robert "Mike Brady" Reed (played in this movie by Daniel Hugh Kelly) were difficult to work with. If the producers of this movie ditched the Greg-Marsha complex altogether, they still would have had a good movie with Schwartz alone trying to put the show together.

Being a made-for-TV movie, this film was not without its faults. For instance, the kid who played the young Barry Williams (Adam Brody) acted well, but it's almost as if he stayed 13 from season 1 to season 5. Anyone who has seen part of each season knows that all the Brady kids grew up considerably over the five seasons, and virtually every teenager looks more noticeably different at 13 than he or she does at 18. Having different actors come in would have increased the realism, but I can understand if they didn't have the budget to do it.

I also didn't understand the subplot where the young Barry Williams had a crush on Florence Henderson (Rebeccah Bush). I mean, it's understandable when he's 13, but five years later? Really? I read somewhere in a trivia book that Williams did actually go out to dinner with Henderson, which I always assumed was just a friendly gesture. The movie didn't mention the fact that when Henderson was on "The Brady Bunch", she had been married since 1956 (in a marriage that would last until 1985) and had already had four children of her own. The real life Williams had to have known that.

I was also a bit let down by the girl who played Maureen McCormick (Kaley Cuoco). Maybe this is the Brady Bunch fan speaking, but although Cuoco is pretty, she had nothing on the real McCormack in terms of looks. Perhaps I've been spoiled by "The Brady Bunch Movie", where Christine Taylor looked (and still looks) identical to McCormick. Cuoco also wasn't very convincing as an actress, either. During crucial scenes, particularly when young Williams comes very close to sleeping with her, she just sounded bored and not very into her scene. A better McCormick could have been cast, and not just a Marsha lookalike.

Last but not least, the movie's ending seemed too abrupt. I would have liked to have seen more about how Williams coped with having the show being canceled, what kind of contact he has with McCormick today, and what he thinks of the show right now. Was it good for his career, or bad? I mean, this information is probably covered in his book, but it would have been great to see that on film. I felt a bit let down that they left so much out, although it was great to see the real Sherwood Schwartz make a cameo in the end. It was almost as if the filmmakers forgot about the juicy gossip, and made a touching tribute in spite of themselves. I'd like to think so.

It's funny how the biggest ratings successes aren't always the most enduring shows; in England, for instance, "The Army Game" was a big, big hit whereas "Fawlty Towers" was a bit of a flop when it first aired, but only one of them is still remembered widely today. (Guess which.) Similarly, during its five-year run in America "The Brady Bunch" wasn't really a Nielsen champion the way something like "Family Affair" was, but one of them spawned one animated spinoff, a variety show, two dramatic TV shows, record albums, two big-screen movies (both of them among the better examples of TV-to-cinema transfers), tours, and now three TV movies. It may leave UK audiences bemused, but I suppose US audiences would wonder why snooker is so popular on British TV.

Which brings us to "Growing Up Brady," based on Barry "Greg" Williams and Chris Kreski's book about the former's experiences on the show. I suspect the book would be more interesting to read than this movie is to watch - a bit too much emphasis is put on whether or not he and Maureen "Marcia" McCormack did the deed of darkness for my liking, although the upside (other than a hilarious round of fluffed takes for a bedroom scene - not that kind) is that we do get to see a pre-"8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" Kaley Cuoco in fetching skimpy swimwear. (Well, that's an upside for lesbians and straight men, anyway.)

The movie's more interesting when it focuses on nearly every other aspect of the show not involving Barry's love life - Daniel Hugh Kelly and Michael Tucker come off well as the late Robert Reed and the still-with-us-at-the-time-of-writing Sherwood Schwartz, and the sight of Reed expressing his distaste at the stuff he has to do in the name of comedy (Reed's previous series had been "The Defenders," so going from that to this must be like going from performing Faulkner to doing Jackie Collins) gives the movie some real edge, a reminder of how harder it is to do this stuff than it looks. But as well as providing a bit of behind-the-scenes-after-the-fact information, it also furnishes some actual entertainment, not least with the kids being encouraged to sing and dance on the show and on tour (shoot me, but I liked "Time To Change").

Some of the casting is a problem - the woman who's supposed to be Ann B. Davis doesn't come close - and as I said I suspect the book will be better, but can you imagine any comedies today having the potential to lead to a TV movie like this? And the feeling of axe-grinding is mercifully absent, making "Growing Up Brady" worth a look for fans of the series, and of US TV shows in general... plus, this is arguably better written than the show that spawned it in the first place.

(P.S.: Why IS snooker so popular on British TV?)

There is a lot that can be said, and a lot that has been said about the made for TV version of Barry Williams' autobiography "Growing Up Brady." I'm going to try to cover a few details myself.

First, and this should be no surprise, Williams fell hard for Maureen McCormick. Granted, neither of them were newcomers to the business, and McCormick's career was longer, so one can assume they could have seen each other before on screen. Nevertheless as he tells it, he was hit by Cupid's arrow the moment he saw her along with the rest of the cast. I'll try not to repeat what every other reviewer posted here, and focus on some dialogue for emphasis instead. During a scene in the Paramount commissary, Williams tells McCormick that all his friends are jealous of him. She minimizes his revelation claiming they're only jealous because they're on television, but he replies that it's because he's on television specifically with her. That means of all the people Williams could've worked with before the Brady Bunch; Raquel Welch, Jayne Mansfield, Sandy Dennis, Sandy Duncan, Audrey Hepburn, Goldie Hawn, Teri Garr, and Marlo Thomas (who he actually did work with), it was Maureen McCormick who was the source of their envy for Willams.

Speaking of Marcia Brady, yes Kaley Cuoco was certainly attractive playing McCormick, but Christine Taylor from "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" looked much more like Marcia. Somewhere I read that another person claimed Cuoco looked more like Eve Plumb, but I don't think she looked like her either. On the flip side, Shelley Long did make an impressive and attractive Carol Brady in the 1990's Brady movies, but Rebecca Bush was the most realistic Florence Henderson.

Then there's the scenes of Robert Reed (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) struggling with his closeted homosexuality, and how it affects incidents where he has to kiss Florence Henderson. We see him getting arrogant over the content of the show, and in some cases getting drunk, and more so with each progressing season. I could swear that during the original broadcast there was a scene where he gets plastered and tries to suggest that Mike Brady should come out of the closet and claim he's having a relationship with one of the other male characters. If we didn't know what we knew about him now, it might be hard to have any sympathy for the man. He also was right about the fact that the reason for the show's success was the presence of six adorable kids, and despite how much he hated the show, he not only tried to protect them, but even gave Barry some legitimate advice at times.

Another segment involves the photoshoots between seasons 1 and 2, and the revealation about the death of the dog who played Tiger. All the girls were undestandably in tears over this, and knowing how much of an animal lover Kaley Cuoco is, that scene is much more believable. The drastic failure to get a substitute for the beloved pooch is also easy to believe.

During the scene when the cast and crew prepare to shoot the episode with Davy Jones as a guest star, Kaley Cuoco was obviously standing on a soapbox in order to emphasize the diminutive stature of Jones, played by Paul Greenberg. Cuoco stands at 5'6", while Greenberg stands at 5'11". Both McCormick and Jones is/was 5'3".

Again, I have to bring up the attempted kissing scenes between Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. Reed could've used some advice from Rock Hudson in "Pretty Maids All in a Row," if that hadn't come out three years later. Henderson actually wanted to suggest to Sherwood Schwartz that they French kiss, and his reply was that they could do so, just not on television. Boy, if they only knew what could be shown on TV in less than a decade, let alone what almost happened between Williams and McCormick in this movie, they'd either revel in their artistic freedom or defecate in their collective drawers!

As we all know, the chances of love blossoming among the boys and girls wasn't just limited to Barry and Maureen. You had Eve Plumb (Kaitlin Cullum) and Chris Knight (Raviv Ullman) falling for each other a little more gradually, and you even had Mike Lookinland trying to put the moves on a nearly terrified Susan Olsen. I love Maureen and Eve's reactions to the two of them together. It even makes me wonder what Scott Lookinland was thinking, knowing what he knows about his aunt. As for Knight and Plumb, despite Chris' claim that Eve was in tears when they got caught making out in that old car on the set, in this movie she just looks annoyed over getting caught.

Aside from the tawdry love affairs, and the hostility between Robert Reed and Sherwood Schwatz (Michael Tucker), there are other interesting scenes, like the time the cast was waiting for Reed to arrive on the set, and made their own insulting parody of the theme song. And did I see Eve Plumb and Susan Olsen themselves, playing their mothers at one point?

Admittedly, I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted to find out about his time on "That Girl" when he played a young autograph seeker along with some girl who was his age, and also seeking autographs. Having said that, I don't want to make it seem like I'm trashing the movie, because I'm not. There's just too much fun seeing the behind-the-scenes activities in this movie, and not just for Brady Bunch fans either. It's also for "Big Bang Theory" and "8 Simple Rules" fans because of Kaley Cuoco, "Phil of the Future" fans for Raviv Ullman, and "Lizzie McGuire" fans because of Carly Schroeder, among other. I was going to add a list of highlights from the movie, but I've already covered enough as it is. Overall, it's just too much fun not to watch.